kingdomready.org

http://www.jewfaq.org/olamhaba.htm

I was researching the term Olam Ha-Ba which is basically the same terminology as “Eternal Life” (zoe aionios) in the New Testament, as a matter of fact; Olam is often translated with the word Aionios in the Septuagint. As I was researching, I stumbled upon this article talking about the Olam Ha-Ba on Judaism 101. It was quite confusing. On one hand they talked of the Olam Ha-Ba as occurring at a fixed point in the future (the resurrection of the dead) and at another point they talked of the Olam Ha-Ba in terms of the phrase Gan Eden (Garden of Eden) as a sort of Heaven-like place. I’m wondering if anyone can make heads or tales of this.

Parousia is the Greek word for “coming” and it is often used to refer to the second coming of Jesus. Last night in my class on Understanding the Christian Worldview, we talked about the Second Coming of Jesus (listen to part one or part two online). In the course of preparing to speak on this subject I came across a few articles in Bible dictionaries that I thought were insightful, invigorating, and worthwhile. The first is from the Hastings’ Dictionary which is very liberal. The second is from the New Bible Dictionary which is middle of the road. The last is from the Wycliffe Dictionary which is very conservative. What struck me was the level of agreement between these three different sources. In particular it is clear that Jesus is coming in order to resurrect the saints, defeat evil, and establish his Kingdom. What an exciting event to look forward to.

In a recent interview with Time Magazine, Bishop NT Wright made some very encouraging statements about the biblical destiny of Christians. The interview was titled, Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop (click here for the article). Below are a few quotes that I thought were extraordinary:

In his new book, Surprised by Hope (HarperOne), Wright quotes a children’s book by California first lady Maria Shriver called What’s Heaven, which describes it as “a beautiful place where you can sit on soft clouds and talk… If you’re good throughout your life, then you get to go [there]… When your life is finished here on earth, God sends angels down to take you heaven to be with him.” That, says Wright is a good example of “what not to say.” The Biblical truth, he continues, “is very, very different.”

One of the classic doctrines of apocalyptic movements (i.e. those who believe the end of the world is coming) is called historical pessimism. Usually we think of a pessimist as someone who sees the glass as half empty and an optimist as one who sees it half full. A historical pessimist is someone who thinks that as history unfolds things will continue to get worse and worse. Let me explain a bit more about the way a traditional historical pessimist thinks before continuing.

Taken from IIIM Magazine Online. Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr. is an American Reformed theologian and author. He is the president and founder of Third Millennium Ministries and formerly chaired the Old Testament department at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. He is best known for his approach to Biblical hermeneutics, which places a heavy emphasis on the Kingdom of God. He has a Th. D. in OT Studies from Harvard.

Isaiah 2:2-4
2 Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. 3 And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.

I was poking around the web last night looking for information on Johannes Weiss (a 19th century author who wrote about the kingdom of God) and came across a website that was reviewing a book. I forget now what the name of the book was but the reviewer was berating the author for marginalizing the apocalyptic elements of Jesus’ message. The comment made was that since the early 20th century, scholars have been focusing on either the hyper-eschatological view of Jesus or they have completely focused on his ethics.

The eschatological apocalyptic prophet. (eschatological or eschatology refers to the end times and apocalyptic or apocalypse refers to a cataclysmic set of events in which the world ends). Scholarship has seen Jesus in this light since Johannes Weiss and then Albert Schweitzer did their research on Jesus over a century ago. They concluded that Jesus was a prophet who declared that the end of the world was near.

In our discussion of preterism I was asked to post about my understanding of Matthew 24.  This passage is hotly debated on this subject, and in eschatology in general.  I’m essentially going to give running commentary as I read the verses.

v2 - Jesus makes the remark that the Temple will be torn down.

v3 -  The disciples probe for more information asking three questions: when will this happen, what is the sign of your coming, and the end of the age.  I don’t quite understand “your coming” from their perspective - since this is before his death and resurrection, let alone his ascension.  Perhaps in writing they felt it appropriate to add this bit to the question in retrospect?

Just before Jesus ascended he had the following conversation with his apostles:

Acts 1:4-6
4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6  So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

Yes, you read that correctly - it says “Life is short.  Get a divorce” and then provides the phone number for a law office.  Divorce is common in our culture.  I remember having a conversation this week with a woman whose father has been married 5 times - including twice with the same woman.  In situations like that it seems like people now consider marriage like they once thought of dating.  Come and go as you please and break up when things get tough or something better comes along.